Officials of the Railroaders Memorial Museum, which owns the K4, provided some answers to those questions at a fundraising banquet Thursday.

To do the remaining work needed to put the K4 back in running order may take about $2.5 million — $1 million of which the museum has already raised, $750,000 more of which has been pledged and $750,000 more of which needs to be raised — and if all that money were currently in hand, the remaining work might take two years, according to museum Executive Director Joe DeFrancesco.

“The time is funding-dependent,” DeFrancesco said.

Overall, engineering and design for the K4 is virtually complete, and most parts have been fabricated; the boiler barrel is finished, although the smoke tubes need to be installed; the firebox, which is being recreated, is about half done, with all necessary materials acquired; the nuts, bolts, shims and other components of the running gear will need to be inspected and work on that gear done where necessary, according to DeFrancesco.

FMW Solutions general foreman Zach Hall looks over the installed side of the outer fire box of the K4 at the Railroaders Memorial Museum on July 18, 2023. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

The plan is to do the work by “module,” getting bids from qualified companies as close as possible to Altoona, to minimize contractor travel expenses and maximize how far the restoration money goes, he said.

Current project leadership, which includes DeFrancesco, former Norfolk Southern CEO Wick Moorman, who spoke at the banquet; and rail enthusiast Bennet Levin of Washington Crossing, whom Moorman called “a force of nature,” took over the work in 2021 and have spent about $800,000 so far, DeFrancesco said.

That has produced an engineering report, an approval from the Federal Railroad Administration, corrective work on the boiler, acquisition of firebox materials, partial installation of the firebox and completion of the tender, according to DeFrancesco.

Prior to that, “a lot of money was spent with limited results,” Moorman said. “The bottom line here is that this project is taking more time and money than (anyone) thought it would take when it started,” Moorman said. “It’s kind of the nature of the beast with locomotive restorations,” he added.

However, the current leadership group is committed to putting the engine back in service, Moorman said.

The 80-inch drivers of the K4 1361 locomotive are seen in 2022. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

And not only the K4 itself: the plan is for the old steam locomotive built in Altoona in 1918 to pull an educational and promotional train around Pennsylvania. That train would consist of five former Pennsylvania Railroad baggage cars and five former PRR coaches, according to Moorman.

Some of the baggage cars are in decent shape and some need significant work, but all are in the museum’s possession, according to rail historian and former Norfolk Southern locomotive engineer Dan Cupper.

The passenger cars are owned by Henry Posner, chairman of the Railroad Development Corp. of Pittsburgh, and a member of the board of directors of the East Broad Top Railroad, Cupper said.

Cupper is uncertain what sort of modifications might be needed for those.

The baggage cars would house exhibits on the K4 touring train, while the passenger cars would haul passengers, according to Cupper.

The repairs needed for the baggage and passenger cars are not nearly as complex or costly as repairs that have been needed for the K4, Moorman said.

Altoona area residents see the Big Boy on its grand national tour and ask why the K4 remains in pieces, Cupper said.

The main reason is that Big Boy owner Union Pacific is a major corporation that in 2013 determined that it wanted to invest in bringing the big locomotive back into service, while the Railroad Museum is a nonprofit, relying largely on volunteers, Cupper said.

“UP has the resources, time and money to throw at (the Big Boy),” Cupper said.

“Everything in (railroad) restoration/preservation moves at the speed of money,” Cupper said.

Moreover, with old equipment, “it’s always a crapshoot, what you find when you start digging under it and taking things apart,” he said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.